Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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March 15, 2010

W.Va. session ends but retiree, school issues loom

By TOM BREEN and LAWRENCE MESSINA Associated Press

CHARLESTON (AP) — The West Virginia Legislature has just finished its 60-day regular session, but there are signs it has plenty more to do this year. Gov. Joe Manchin has not ruled out calling lawmakers back to ensure the state qualifies for federal “Race to the Top” education funding. The House and Senate also proved unable during the just-completed session to tackle the massive unfunded liability for retiree benefits, mostly health coverage, promised to public employees. Officials estimate a $7.8 billion gap between on-hand assets and the promised benefits. The state’s teachers are at the center of both issues. The groups representing them are bracing for a tough fight ahead. They also appear ready to compromise with Manchin and lawmakers on some key areas. But they and others involved in these two looming tasks differ on whether the Legislature should target both during the same special session. “I think we’re going to have charter schools. I hope we deal with (retiree benefits), because we have to,” said Judy Hale, president of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia. “It would devastate our profession, so it very much has to do with education.” Manchin put lawmakers on notice during his State of the State address in January that he would convene a special session if West Virginia missed the first batch of the competitive federal school grants. The state got the bad news March 4 that it was not among the finalists for the initial phase of the $4.3 billion program. But the administration won’t learn until next month why West Virginia didn’t make the cut. The state’s application was measured against a wide-ranging, 500-point scoring system. As a result, a special session on education is not yet a certainty, Manchin spokesman Matt Turner said. “Nothing is set in stone,” Turner told The Associated Press. “What the governor has been clear about, though, is that he wants the state Department of Education and the (state school) board to drive the changes.” When Manchin appeared before those officials last week, he assigned them the task of shaping any legislative agenda, while also setting a larger goal. Hale said her group is readying for a mid-May session, and is prepared to seek common ground on some of the thornier topics involved. Those include charter schools, which receive public funds but run independently. West Virginia is among 11 states that do not allow them. AFT-WV helped halt a Senate-led bid this session to change that. Charter schools accounted for 40 of the 500 points in Race to the Top’s scoring system. Hale said her group remains concerned about employee rights at such schools. “I think there is room to come together on this issue, if all sides do not continue to be so polarized,” Hale said. She added that she hopes an ongoing task force study of charter schools will help. Other areas for possible compromise include hiring and firing practices and teacher evaluations, Hale said. The West Virginia Education Association also expects a special session, and a “tough” one at that, President Dale Lee said. “If they listen to the input of classroom teachers and have us at the table from the start, you’ll see change for the better,” Lee said. As evidence, Lee cited the process that led to the school innovation zones, which enable qualifying schools to try approaches that may have been considered unworkable before. “Things that people thought were sacred cows were part of the innovation zone discussion,” he said. They included the length of the school day and the option for year-round schools. Hale believes the education issues dovetail with retiree benefits, since those apply to teachers and school workers. But a leading lawmaker disagrees. Sen. Brooks McCabe chaired a special study group that attempted, without success, to craft bills addressing the retiree benefits shortfall during the session. The Kanawha County Democrat notes that retiree benefits and Race to the Top face different deadlines. West Virginia has until June 1 to apply for the second round of federal grants, while officials hope to address the unfunded liability at least partly before the July 1 start of the new budget year. McCabe said he expects to deal with education issues first and then retiree obligations in a later session. “I don’t know that we’ll want to divert our attention on two issues of that substance,” McCabe said.

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